Haunted

V

Apparently the news of the dead body hadn't reached most people by the next day. The police were trying to keep it under wraps, for obvious reasons. A suspicious death in a small town tended to make people point fingers. And, if Cade was right, they wouldn't want news of yet another serial killer in Elk Springs to get out.

I went downtown just for that reason. I was a bit shaken up from last night, and I wasn't sure who I could tell about what I'd seen. I wanted to know if Cade and I were really the only ones who knew what happened last night.

Though, in town I didn't hear any gossip about the girl who was found in the pink house's backyard. But one elderly couple was talking about a robbery at the Sanders's residence down by Knox Street. That must be how they explained all the police cars last night at the pink house.

I had stopped at the ice cream parlor to get something to eat when I saw Emily. She was sitting alone with a milkshake clutched between her hands in an almost deadly grip. The midday sun was already melting the top of the shake, but it didn't seem like she noticed or cared. It was after I noticed the red bags under her eyes that I made the connection though. Emily Sanders. It was her house where the body had been found. No wonder she looked bad.

I decided if Emily was now my friend, I couldn't ignore her sitting there. Besides, I wanted to know if she could give me any more information about what happened at her house.

"Hey. Emily." I greeted, sitting across from her with my own chocolate waffle cone.

(It was past noon, I was allowed to eat ice cream.)

Emily looked up, startled. "Oh, hey, Raven."

She definitely did not seem like the happy-go-lucky girl I met the other day. She was like a ghost of herself, and I was nothing if not good with ghosts.

"So," I started, "I heard about what happened last night." Her eyes got wide before I added, "The robbery and such."

Emily breathed a sigh of relief, obviously relieved that I was as oblivious as everyone else in town, "Oh, that."

"Are you guys okay and all after last night? I mean, nothing important was stolen?"

Emily shrugged, "It's just . . ." She looked around and leaned in close to me, "Can you keep a secret?"

I nodded, knowing where the conversation was going.

"Well, you see, there really was no robbery last night."

I faked surprise. "Really? Then why were all those police cars over by your house last night?"

"It was . . . well, the police want to keep this on the down low, but they found something huge in my backyard." I nodded along. "I woke up in the middle of the night to get a cup of water when I looked out the window. I saw Fluffy, our dog, chewing on something. I only got a glimpse before I ran back inside, woke up my parents, and called the police."

"What was it?"

Emily hesitated with a horrified look on her face, glancing at the other patrons of the shops around us before deciding to disclose the information. "Raven, it was a dead body."

The image of that girl was still fresh in my mind, so it wasn't hard to grimace at her words. I could still see the mangled body and the blood . . . everywhere. And to think she walked in to a worse seen than I had with a better view.

"Somebody had dumped a dead body in my backyard, and my dog was . . . oh, it was so awful. I'll never be able to get that image out of my head. The pound is keeping Fluffy for now, but it wasn't his fault, so they might let him out soon. But, still. That image . . . it won't be leaving me anytime soon."